Category: Social Updates

Summer Dinner 2019

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[29/05/2019]

The academic year has come to a close and it’s time to say goodbye to UCLSC until next September!

May 29th saw us all meet up for the final time for a lovely summer dinner together at The Barley Mow on Duke Street, followed by a wild night out at Loop (to keep up tradition of course!!)

Also following tradition, awards were given out to some extra special swimmers who showed superb effort all year round! The following awards were given out:

Swimmer of the year: Lizzie Rose (History fresher who went from fitness to competitive and can always be found with a big smile on her face!!)

Most dedicated member: Tahlia Spink (The number of years that Tahlia’s been a part of UCLSC is wILD)

Most improved member: Sam Bouilloud (Keep up the good work, Sam!! (How do you do it??))

Female competitor: Rebecca Hoadley (from fresher to next year’s Competitive Captain, we can’t wait to see what Rebecca does for UCLSC!)

Male competitor: Justin Gay Semenkoff (Justin has wowed us with his impressive swims and will be joining Rebecca next year as Competitive Captain!)

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Thank you to everyone who has been a part of UCL Swimming Club this year, new or old, and we can’t wait to see you all again next academic year!

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Varsity 2019!

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[09/03/2019]

For the FIFTH year running, UCL beat Kings at Varsity!!

This year, we won by a whopping 157-95 points! Congratulations to all our competitive swimmers for some really amazing swims and great team spirit throughout!

Of course, in true UCLSC fashion, we had to celebrate this fantastic result afterwards! With the library bar at Student Central pre-booked, everyone from UCLSC, UCL Waterpolo, and both equivalent teams from Kings all came together for a fun night to remember!

Bring on Varsity 2020!!

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Shark Run!

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[24/10/2018]

The infamous shark run is one of the most popular events of the academic year and this year was no different!! Whilst we may be speedy in the water, we’re evidently not so on land, as absolutely NOBODY was safe from this year’s sharks, Emily and Gabi, who showed no mercy when it came to covering everyone head to toe in blue paint and red lipstick.

Being chased from Student Central to numerous Bloomsbury pubs, and finally miraculously making it to Roxy, we hope everyone had an amazing welcome to UCLSC and we can’t wait to see more of you this upcoming year!

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Cambridge Gala 2018!!

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[20/10/2018]

Every year, our competitive team participates in the Cambridge gala (hosted by Cambridge university, funnily enough), and unsurprisingly, our members swam excellently once again! It was great to see amazing effort from everyone, and loads of team spirit shown from fitness members who travelled the long distance as well to support our team! Although we were beaten by the two Cambridge teams, we proudly took Bronze and celebrated this well with a delicious meal at the Raja Cambridge, followed by lots of dancing at The Regal! Safe to say, the coach journey back to London had many more sleepy swimmers than it did on the way!

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Of course, we also had to have a fancy dress theme for the night.. this year’s was DISNEY! We’re proud (?) to say our swimmers put in almost as much effort in their costumes as they did their swimming!!

Give It A Go!

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[10/10/2018]

The new academic year has started and with that comes two weeks of fun, free swimming trials for anyone who wants to be involved!

It’s been great seeing so many fresh, new goggles (and faces) at swimming, whether you’ve been participating in the competitive trials or practising a new stroke with our fitness captains! Of course, with UCLSC comes our infamous socials and we’ve already had two amazing events thrown by our new social secs, Annie and Rob!

In GIAG week 1, we had Traffic Light Night, where old got to meet new in a fun, colour-coordinated fashion: Committee members were told to wear red, old members – yellow/orange, and new members – green! In GIAG week 2, inspired by our aquatic members, the theme was Under the Sea! (pls see below for some great/absolutely awful costumes!!)

 

We are done with 17/18!

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So you think swimming is done and dusted for the academic year in March? NAH. Our tireless committee is still working *through the exams* to bring you activities!

1. Swimathon 2018

Team UCL Swimming took on the olympic stadium once again one month after our glorious victory against Kings. A tradition of our club, we’ve fundraised for this event and took up the challenge of swimming DURING the exam period. Even though our incoming president, Louis, signed us up for the slow lanes, our timings are anything but slow!

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everyone’s a medal winner except Louis (even though he swam the fastest)

shoutout to everyone for turning up this year and we look forward to Swimathon 2019!

2. Swimming Dinner!

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Rob is not impressed. Watch out for his socials next year.

The annual swimming dinner has descended upon us, kindly organised by our dearest Social Secs, Ellen and Georgie! Lovely pub, lovely food, lovely price ££!

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For the uninitiated, this annual summer rendezvous is a chance for us to meet up with each other with more than just a swimming trunk/costume on. It is during the dinner that we dish out awards for what we do when we are almost naked. Yes, swim.

so drumrolls…

2017/18 Award Winners!

Female Competitor of the Year – Phyllida Britton (Goggy)
Male Competitor of the Year – Daniel Schindler
Most Improved Swimmer – Ming Hu
Most Dedicated Club Member – Kai Low
Swimmer of the Year – Becca Lin

Congrats to all winners!

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Louis offering his heartiest congratulations whilst Gabi looks on endearingly

THANK YOU ALL for making 17/18 the best year and we look forward to seeing you at tour!

 

Alumni Gala – it’s been a good half-decade

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they’ve returned (and they are still pretty fast in the water!)

What a night! UCLSC is half a decade old this year but our swimmers are always looking young (maybe it’s the chlorine).

To celebrate, we’ve brought everyone out to Hackney for a gala:

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it’s not exactly Hackney but we’ve got the entire pool (and 2 very bored lifeguards).

Here are some pictures of how the night went swimmmingly well!

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Our captain *trying* to look optimistic as our founders reunite.

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have they been training????????? they are fast!

And post-gala, we fall back on tradition for a nice BYOB curry. Now, that’s a lot of swimmers in one tiny curry house.

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how many swimmers can you fit in a curry house? 

MAJOR CREDITS to Ellen for organising this event and making sure we all get our curry. Insane feat.

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we just needed more reasons to eat cake 

And HUGE THANKS to Gabi for getting the club our first NON-WEARABLE MERCH – A WATER BOTTLE! We are selling them at £3 in 2 colours and they are stylish af. Ideal for pres if you need it! What are you waiting for???

Merry Christmas!

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2017 has been crazy, but we are nearing the end of it!

Lots have been going on and here’s a breakdown of what went on in December:

1. Christmas Dinner 

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With 53 of you joining us at the Shakespeare’s Head on Carnaby Street, this is the biggest turn out ever! Thank you Ellen and Georgi, our amazing Social Secs, for organizing such a blast! And if you haven’t heard about the latest ship of the club… cough *janiel* cough

2. Christmas Gala

We don’t have a picture for this but saaaaaaaay whaaaaaaaat. We’ve managed to raised £70 for Aspire, a national charity that provides practical help to people who have been paralysed by Spinal Cord Injury helping them move from injury to independence.

As our Engagement and Community Officer, Louis have organised this charity gala, throwing in fun races involving questionable Santa hats and socks to end our last swim session of the year on a high note. Congratulations to Team 4 for winning a box of Celebrations (that everyone stole from anyway lol)!

If anyone love to find out more about UCL Swimming’s other volunteering projects (i.e. Starfish Volunteering), do not hesitate to reach out to Louis!

Also, goodbye to our Canadian star, Will Brothers! We hope to see you again at UCL next year!

3. Naked Calendar

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We stripped … like we always do in the changing room lol

UCLSC will probably be on the naughty list this Christmas for posing *naked* but this is all for a good cause!

In support of mental health charity MIND, UCL Swimming has joined forces with other sports team in UCL to go bare for a 2018 calendar shoot! Head down to CSC reception or here to get your family and friends the best christmas gift! (ps im buying this for my mom)

4. Kit!

Our swimming caps are here! With the constant hard work of our Marketing Officer, Kai, Christmas came early with our newly designed swim caps! Do wear it proud when you head home and swim at your local gyms! T-shirts to come next year, and keep a look out for our Under Armour kit rolling out soon. Note: PAY UP TO GET THEM ASAP!

Mega thanks to our Alumni and Sponsorship officer, Gabi, for securing us a huuuuuuuuuuuge sponsorship from George Farha! You will see our sponsor logos on your kit as a form of gratitude. Also, with this sponsorship, we’ve managed to get our competitive team new personalized bullet caps! Wrap up! 

We hope all of you enjoyed your time with us here in UCL Swimming. Merry Christmas and have a great new year!

Happy 5th Birthday to UCL Swimming!

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can you believe how amazing we’ve gotten in JUST 5 YEARS?

We TURNED 5!

As with tradition, UCLSC celebrated our birthday with our famous Curryoke [read: curry-O.K.]. Can you imagine how far we’ve gotten and accomplished in these 5 years? A club award? Check. A sportsperson of the year? Check. A Sportsnite at Loop bar tab…? We’re getting there.

Somebody once told me:

 “If you can row, you can’t sing. If you can swim, you’re Whitney Houston.” – Confucius*

What a way to prove Confucius right, we smashed the stage with our crystal-clear rendition of All Star, Uptown Girl, and Let it Go! Forget Whitney Houston, everyone’s an Idina Menzel!

If you still want to put your vocal talents to good use, come join us at London League Round 1 next Saturday and cheer #teamUCL as we compete against Imperial, Kings, Queen Mary, etc! Watch us as we keep our title as London champs!